A Day Without a Phone!

I left work yesterday afternoon, picked up kids, deposited them at home, and then returned to work to finish a project that a teacher needed assistance with. I called home about 6:15 to let them know that I would be on my way shortly. Little did I know, that would be the last time that I saw my cell phone for almost 24 hours.

After working for quite a while on a video for a graduation, I went downstairs to get my phone to plug it into the charger for the night. Upon descending the stairs, I found lights on, the tv on, plates on the table, a box of yogurt on the coach, and many other things which were out of place. After turning everything off and putting everything in its place, I headed upstairs to bed, completely forgetting about my original reason for going downstairs .... to find my phone. This morning, I awoke, showered, dressed, and went to get my phone from its charger before leaving for the day, only to discover that it was not there, and the memory of my original reason for descending the stairs last night came back to me. I looked about the house and throughout my car, but no phone. I had to get to work, so I decided that I would just have to come back and look for it later. Upon arriving at work, I searched my desk, my bag, my purse (once again) and everywhere that I could think of, but no phone. It was really upsetting me because I always put my phone in the same place, and I always know where it is.

I went home at lunchtime to search once again, hoping that I would find it. During my search, I stopped a moment and prayed, "Please God. Help me find my phone." Within a few minutes, I remembered that I had stopped at the staff restroom on my way to the car the previous night. Maybe I had set it on the table in the bathroom? A great sense of peace came over me, and I felt certain that my prayer had been answered. I headed back to school and straight for the staff restroom to retrieve my phone. Only, my phone was not there. The fret and worry that I had felt all morning instantly returned.

It was nearly one o'clock, so I headed to my other campus to help with imaging. Shortly after arriving, the secretary came in and said, "I heard you lost your phone, and we've found it." I so wished that it was mine but knew that it was not because I had lost it at my other campus. A few more hours went by before I heard from the night custodian whom I had emailed earlier in the day to ask if she or her night crew had found my phone. She had not seen it and did not know anything about it but said that she would check with her crew.

About an hour later, my phone rang. As I glanced over at the phone before picking up the receiver, I saw my cell phone number on the incoming call display. My friend Kathy was on the other end of the line talking to me on "my phone"! One of the night custodians found my phone and placed it on a shelf for safe keeping. I was SO relieved! Guess where she found it? In the staff restroom on the little table ... just where I "thought" I left it.

Lesson learned ... continue to listen to the still, small voice of peace instead of resorting to fret and worry.

Scrapblog

I have just discovered Scrapblog. Scrapblog is a "free" web site that allows you to create on-line scrapbooks. You can journal, add pictures, add stamps, and more. Then, you can share your scrapblog virtually with friends and family or you can export pages as jpegs and have them printed to create a physical scrapbook, as well. They have all sorts of wonderful backgrounds, colors, stamps, clipart images, and more. You could spend HOURS on this site. It is just too much fun. So, if you enjoy scrapbooking or have always wanted to scrapbook but did not want to incur the expense or all of the supplies, books, etc. ... check out www.scrapblog.com.

By the way, the new header on this blog, my family pic with the decorative background and stamps ... I created it on scrapblog. One of these days I will have time to learn HTML so that I can figure out how to delete the other picture from behind my family pic.

School Pics!

It's spring pic time! We only received proofs for Megan's pics. Somehow the payment never made it back to school, so we never received the actual photos. Connor's pics were all sent home this spring, and we were able to choose what we wanted to order from the package. Of course, ordering the entire package is by far the best deal, so ... of course we did. I will get pictures in the mail to you guys soon. For now, I hope that you enjoy them on the blog.

Baseball

Connor LOVES baseball. He is playing for the 8U Washington Nationals this spring. During the games all of the kids play a variety of positions in the infield and outfield, but Connor routinely plays catcher at least one inning each game. He loves it! This is our first season of kid pitch, which means that the kids are now pitching. Wow! We have a couple of really good pitchers. When the batter receives 4 balls, the coach comes out to pitch. The coach then pitches between 1 and 3 balls(depending on the number of strikes the batter received). As the season has progressed, the coaches have pitched less and less. This is our first season on the Nationals team, and although we have only won two games, the boys still give it their all on the field and have a great time. This season is coming to a close, but we hope that you will join us for a game or two in the fall.

Great Day!

Today after church, we had a great day of working in the yard as a family. We trimmed trees, cut down vines, turned flower beds, and planted flowers in the pots. The backyard looks really good now, and is all ready for Megan's Life Group Party on Wednesday evening. We are scheduled to have 10 or so 6th grade girls over on Wednesday night for a swim and pizza party to end the Spring Life Group time. Then, the girls will meet every two weeks throughout the summer. Megan loves her life group, and I am so glad that she got involved.

Spring Break in Hawaii - March 2008

We spent our spring break in Kona, Hawaii at the Hilton Waikaloa Village. It was beautiful! We had a wonderful, relaxing time swimming, hanging out by the pool and the lagoon, watching the beautiful sunsets, reading in the hammock at Budda Point, snorkeling, watching the whales off-shore, listening to the whales talk to each other while we were scuba diving, and more. Take a look at a few photos from our trip. Double-click on the slideshow below to view full screen.

Still Getting Started

Well, as you can see, I am still getting this blog started. After the initial set-up and post, I have not had much time to focus on this. Today, however, I attended a training on blogs, wikis, and podcasts, and my interest has peaked such that I am "making" time to get this blog up and running.

I hope to use this blog to keep everyone up-to-date on what's happening with the Richardson family and to stay in touch with everyone on a more regular basis. If you feel inspired to begin a blog of your own but don't know how to get started, just let me know. I would be happy to help you get your blog off the ground.

I am off to try to figure out how to post links to fun family pics and more. Back soon!